When performing character typesetting on one page of an electronic document in DTP, a plurality of reference lines known as a grid is usually arranged on the page displayed on the display device, and characters are arranged with this grid as a reference. This grid defines a plurality of lines separated by a fixed interval, and typesetting is performed by sequentially arranging characters within these lines. Therefore, the size of the characters to be arranged within each line is restricted to a specified dimension, and when this specified dimension is exceeded, characters in adjacent lines may overlap. When the height of text consisting of a plurality of characters to be arranged within one line of the grid exceeds that line's specified dimension, so-called “forced grid line spacing” is performed to arrange these characters within an enlarged space that includes that line and an adjacent line. Forced grid line spacing selects the required number of adjacent lines according to character size, etc., defines an enlarged space by taking two or three lines, and arranges characters within that enlarged space.
However, in conventional DTP for electronic typesetting, either a special setting value must be input when performing forced grid line spacing, or it is necessary to perform forced grid line spacing by manually moving characters displayed on a display device. In addition, when text consists of a plurality of characters with differing fonts or dimensions, doing forced grid line spacing becomes very difficult, and requires much time and effort.